General Details

Name:

Mr Farrah Fawcett

Gender:

Female

Age:

62 years old

Lived:

Sunday, 2 February 1947 - Thursday, 25 June 2009

My Story

Farrah Fawcett (February 2, 1947 – June 25, 2009) was an American actress. A multiple Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominee, Fawcett rose to international fame when she first appeared as private investigator Jill Munroe in the TV series Charlie's Angels in 1976. Fawcett later appeared off-Broadway to the approval of critics and in highly rated television movies in roles often challenging (The Burning Bed, Nazi Hunter: The Beate Klarsfeld Story, Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story, Margaret Bourke-White) and sometimes unsympathetic (Small Sacrifices). Fawcett was also a pop culture figure whose hairstyle was emulated by millions of young women and whose poster sales broke records, making her an international sex symbol in the 1970s and 1980s.

Farrah Fawcett was born Ferrah Leni Fawcett in Corpus Christi, Texas, the younger of two daughters. Her mother, Pauline Alice (née Evans), was a homemaker, and her father, James William Fawcett, was an oil field contractor. She was of French, English, and Choctaw Native American ancestry. Fawcett said that the name "Ferrah" was "made up" by her mother because it went well with her last name. The "e" was later changed to "a", as "Farrah".

A Roman Catholic, Fawcett's early education was at the parish school of the church her family attended, St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in Corpus Christi. She graduated from W.B. Ray High School in Corpus Christi in 1965. From 1966–1969, Fawcett attended the University of Texas at Austin, living one semester in Jester Center, and became a sister of Delta Delta Delta Sorority. She appeared in a photo of the "Ten Most Beautiful Coeds" from the university, which ran in Cashbox magazine. A Hollywood publicist saw the photo, called Farrah and urged her to move to Los Angeles, which she did in 1969, leaving after her junior year with her parents' permission to "try her luck" in Hollywood.

Fawcett was married to Lee Majors, star of TV's The Six Million Dollar Man, from 1973–1982, though the couple separated in 1979. During her marriage, she was known and credited in her roles as Farrah Fawcett-Majors.

From 1982 until her death, Fawcett was involved romantically with actor Ryan O'Neal. The relationship produced a son, Redmond O'Neal, born in 1985. Redmond has struggled with addiction. In April 2009, on probation for driving under the influence, he was arrested for possession of narcotics while Fawcett was in the hospital. On June 22, 2009, The Los Angeles Times and Reuters reported that Ryan O'Neal had said that Fawcett had agreed to marry him as soon as she felt strong enough.

On June 5, 1997, Fawcett received some negative commentary after giving a rambling and distracted interview on Late Show with David Letterman. Months later, she told the host of The Howard Stern Show that her behavior was in fact just her way of joking around with the television host, explaining that what appeared to be random looks across the theater was just her looking and reacting to fans in the audience. Though the Letterman appearance spawned speculation and several jokes at her expense, after Joaquin Phoenix's mumbling act on a February 2009 appearance on The Late Show, Letterman wrapped up the interview by saying, "Joaquin, I’m sorry you couldn’t be here tonight" and recalled Fawcett's earlier appearance by noting "We owe an apology to Farrah Fawcett."

Fawcett's elder sister, Diane Fawcett Walls, died from lung cancer just before her 63rd birthday, on October 16, 2001. The fifth episode of her 2005 Chasing Farrah series followed the actress home to Texas to visit with her father, James, and mother, Pauline. Pauline Fawcett died soon after, on March 4, 2005, at the age of 91.

Fawcett was diagnosed with anal cancer in 2006, and began treatment, including chemotherapy and surgery. Four months later, on her 60th birthday, the Associated Press wire service reported that Fawcett was, at that point, cancer free.

Less than four months later, in May 2007, Fawcett brought a small digital video camera to document a doctor's office visit. There, she was told a malignant polyp was found in the area where she had been treated for the initial cancer. Doctors contemplated whether to implant a radiation seeder (which differs from conventional radiation and is used to treat other types of cancer). Fawcett's U.S. doctors told her that she would require a colostomy. Instead, Fawcett traveled to Germany for treatments described variously in the press as "holistic", "aggressive", and "alternative". There, Dr. Ursula Jacob prescribed a treatment including surgery to remove the anal tumor, and a course of perfusion and embolization for her liver cancer by Doctors Claus Kiehling and Thomas Vogl in Germany, and chemotherapy back in Fawcett's home town of Los Angeles. Although initially the tumors were regressing, their reappearance a few months later necessitated a new course, this time including laser ablation therapy and chemoembolization. Aided by friend Alana Stewart, Fawcett documented the highs and lows of her battle with the disease.

In early April 2009, Fawcett, back in the United States, was rushed to a hospital, reportedly unconscious and in critical condition. Subsequent reports, however, indicated that the severity of her condition was not as dire as first reported. On April 6, the Associated Press reported that her cancer had metastasized to her liver. Fawcett had learned of this development in May 2007 and her subsequent treatments in Germany had targeted this as well. The report denied that she was unconscious, and explained that the reason for Fawcett's hospitalization was not her cancer but a painful abdominal hematoma that had been the result of a minor procedure, according to the Los Angeles cancer specialist treating Fawcett, Dr. Lawrence Piro. Her spokesperson emphasized she was not "at death's door", adding "She remains in good spirits with her usual sense of humor ... She's been in great shape her whole life and has an incredible resolve and an incredible resilience."Three days later, on April 9, Fawcett was released from the hospital, picked up by longtime companion O'Neal, and, according to her doctor, was "walking and in great spirits and looking forward to celebrating Easter at home."

A month later, on May 7, Fawcett was reported as being critically ill, with Ryan O'Neal quoted as saying that she now spends her days at home, on an IV, often asleep. The Los Angeles Times reported that Fawcett was in the last stages of her cancer and had the chance to see her son Redmond in April 2009, although shackled and under supervision, as he was then incarcerated, Fawcett seemed not to notice. Her 91-year-old father, James Fawcett, flew out to Los Angeles to visit with Farrah, his only living child (her sole sibling, sister Diane, had succumbed to lung cancer in 2001).

Her doctor, Lawrence Piro, and Fawcett's friend and Angels co-star Kate Jackson — a breast cancer survivor — appeared together on The Today Show dispelling tabloid-fueled rumors, including the suggestions that Fawcett had ever been in a coma, had ever reached 86 pounds, and had ever given up her fight against the disease or lost the will to live. Jackson decried such demoralizing fabrications, saying they "really do hurt a human being and a person like Farrah". Piro recalled when it became necessary for Fawcett to undergo treatments that would cause her to lose her hair, acknowledging that "Farrah probably has the most famous hair in the world", but acknowledged that it is not a trivial matter for any cancer patient, whose hair "affects one's whole sense of who they are". Of the documentary, Jackson averred that Fawcett "didn't do this to show that 'she' is unique, she did it to show that we are all unique ... (T)his was ... meant to be a gift to others to help and inspire them."

The two-hour documentary Farrah's Story, which was filmed by Fawcett and friend Alana Stewart, aired on NBC on May 15, 2009. The documentary was watched by nearly 9 million people in its premiere airing and it was re-aired on the broadcast network's cable stations MSNBC, Bravo and Oxygen.

In June, O'Neal asked Fawcett to marry him. She accepted his proposal and O'Neal said the wedding would happen "as soon as she can say yes." The two never married.

Fawcett died at 9:28 a.m. PST on June 25, 2009, in the intensive care unit of Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, with O'Neal and Stewart by her side.

An hour-long special episode of 20/20 will air on ABC TV at 10 P.M. Thursday, June 25, 2009. The show will feature clips from several of Barbara Walters' past interviews with Fawcett as well as new interviews with Ryan O'Neal, Jaclyn Smith, Alana Stewart, and Dr. Lawrence Piro.